In a wireless communication network, nodes are connected wirelessly to the network. In some wireless networks, the wirelessly-connected nodes are themselves physically mobile, e.g., the handsets in a conventional mobile-telephony network. While user equipment (UE), e.g., mobile telephones, attached to a conventional mobile-telephony network are themselves physically mobile, their communication is supported by physically stationary infrastructure, namely stationary base stations in different locations that communicate with a remote, stationary mobile-telephone-switching office (MTSO). A given one of the UEs can move from the coverage area of a first stationary base station into the coverage area of a second stationary base station. To facilitate the handoff of a given UE from the first stationary base station to the second stationary base station, some received signal strength data are collected by and received from the given UE by the first stationary base station.
Many locations throughout the world lack such physically-stationary network infrastructures. Reasons why such physically-stationary network infrastructures might be lacking at a given location include: the sovereign authority and/or private companies lack adequate financial resources to cover the requisite capital investment; the sovereign authority and/or private companies might not be able to justify the requisite capital investment in view of the population density being too low, the location being too geographically remote; the location's topography being too difficult; the location's environment being too harsh; etc. Alternatively, a given location might have physically-stationary network infrastructures that have been damaged by a natural disaster or war but which have yet to be repaired because too little time has elapsed since the disaster occurred or because of the ongoing risks of being located in a live war zone, respectively.
Communications in such environments can be improved by using a mobile mobile-wireless network (MMWN). Aside from the UEs, in an MMWN, all of the components of a typical cellular network can reside in one device (referred to herein as a network-in-a-box (NIB)). The NIB itself is mobile. The MMWN provides an example of a wireless network in which not only the wirelessly-connected nodes (UEs) themselves are physically mobile, but the infrastructure that supports their communication (namely, the NIB) also is physically mobile.
The NIB is self-contained in that it does not need to communicate with other NIBs or an MTSO to provide complete cellular network functionality to instances of user equipment (UEs) within its area of coverage. One example of a commercially available NIB is the XIPHOS™ available from OCEUS NETWORKS™.
As a NIB moves, the network coverage (that it provides) moves with it. To increase the range of coverage, multiple NIBs can be networked together to create a network of MMWNs (referred to herein as a NOM). Among other things, a first MMWN can perform handover operations when a UE moves from its coverage area to the coverage area of an adjacent MMWN within the NOM, and vice-versa. Furthermore, if an MMWN moves from one location to another, the NOM can allocate affected UEs between the moving MMWN and one or more adjacent MMWNs in the area.